TIAA-CREF And The University Of Connecticut Health Center Announce Biosciences Connecticut Partnership

$203 Million in Long-Term Financing for New Outpatient Care Building SupportsLocal Economy and Improved Health Care Services

New York and Farmington, CT, September 9, 2013 — TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services organization with $523 billion in assets under management, and the University of Connecticut Health Center today announced a public-private investment under the Bioscience Connecticut initiative. The investment by TIAA-CREF provides $203 million in long-term financing for UConn Health Center’s new 300,000-square-foot outpatient care building and parking garages at its Farmington, Conn., campus.

The outpatient care building and parking garages are part of the Bioscience Connecticut initiative, a forward-thinking plan championed by Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and approved by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2011. Bioscience Connecticut aims to create construction-related jobs immediately and generate long-term, sustainable economic growth based on bioscience research, innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization. The UConn Health Center outpatient care building is the only element of Bioscience Connecticut supported by private financing.

“This public-private partnership between the UConn Health Center and TIAA-CREF is a win-win for Connecticut,” Gov. Malloy said. “A state-of-the-art outpatient care facility will allow the health center to better recruit top talent and address the medical needs of the community. This type of investment creates jobs and demonstrates the success of the Bioscience Connecticut initiative.”

The new building will allow UConn Health Center to enhance its medical practices and clinical programs to continue to improve the services available to patients and their families. It will bring together outpatient services currently located in multiple buildings under one roof, provide a modern space for patient services and foster innovative new collaborations among center staff.

“By securing customized, long-term financing for the outpatient care building with TIAA-CREF, we are able to maximize the university’s time, money and personnel resources versus seeking other financing options,” said Jeffrey Geoghegan, controller, UConn Health Center. “We are excited by the significant growth opportunities the new outpatient care building will afford the university.”

“We are very excited about the opportunities that the new outpatient care building will afford our faculty practices and clinician-researchers,” noted Dr. Frank M. Torti, executive vice president for health affairs, UConn Health Center, and dean, UConn Medical School. “The building will enable us to transform our medical practices and clinical programs so that we can provide the best possible quality and service to patients and their families for many years to come.”

TIAA-CREF’s financing is structured as a credit tenant loan. A credit tenant loan is a method of financing real estate in which the property owner borrows money to finance the construction and ongoing ownership of the building and uses a percentage of future rent to repay the loan.

“We believe that public-private investments with financially strong, stable institutions like the UConn Health Center are mutually beneficial. They support our clients’ financial well-being and strengthen their local communities through job growth and increased revenues,” said Robert Leary, executive vice president, TIAA-CREF, and president, TIAA-CREF Asset Management. “With this investment, we are truly advancing the long-term interests of our clients and the state of Connecticut while fulfilling our own mission to support the financial strength of nonprofit institutions and employees.”

TIAA-CREF is committed to driving improvements on behalf of community-based healthcare providers, with approximately $4 billion in investments in universities and health-care institutions in its clients’ communities. These investments are part of TIAA-CREF’s broader investment strategy in credit and real estate, and leverage the company’s deep experience in these markets dating back to 1918 and 1934, respectively.

Construction on the outpatient care building and parking garages began in January 2013. The outpatient care building is scheduled to open to the public in January 2015.

About the University of Connecticut

One of America's top research universities, UConn is the only public university in New England with its own Schools of Law, Social Work, Medicine, and Dental Medicine.

The University of Connecticut Health Center is the only public academic medical center in the state of Connecticut. It is composed of the School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, John Dempsey Hospital, the UConn Medical Group, UConn Health Partners, and University Dentists.

About TIAA-CREF

TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa.org) is a national financial services organization with $523 billion in assets under management (as of 06.30.13) and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

TIAA-CREF is deeply invested in Connecticut, managing $10 billion in assets for more than 73,000 Connecticut residents, including more than $1 billion in state of Connecticut retirement assets. The company manages retirement investments for employees at more than 300 institutions. It also manages approximately $2 billion for more than 88,000 CHET College Savings Plan account holders. CHET is administered by the Connecticut State Treasurer's Office. TIAA-CREF has approximately $5.5 billion in real estate and other investments in the state. It operates offices in Hamden and Stamford, Conn., and recently announced a joint venture with Henderson Property, with U.S. headquarters in Hartford, Conn.

TIAA-CREF has received several recent industry accolades for its investment performance. Lipper named TIAA-CREF as the 2013 Best Overall Large Fund Company based on three-year risk-adjusted performance. The company was one of 36 large investment firms eligible for the award i. In addition, 98 percent of the company’s mutual funds and annuities have an overall Morningstar rating of three or more stars across all asset classes based on risk-adjusted performance (14 percent rated five stars, 41 percent rated four stars and 42 percent rated three stars, as of June 30, 2013).ii In addition, TIAA-CREF was ranked 10th out of 62 mutual fund families in the 2012 Barron’s/Lipper fund family ranking, based on asset-weighted performance.iii

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Investment, insurance and annuity products are not FDIC insured, are not bank guaranteed, are not deposits, are not insured by any federal government agency, are not a condition to any banking service or activity, and may lose value.

TIAA-CREF products may be subject to market and other risk factors. See the applicable product literature, or visit www.tiaa.org for details.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Please call 877-518-9161 or log on to www.tiaa.org for product and fund prospectuses that contain this and other information. Please read the prospectuses carefully before investing.

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i In calculating the awards, Lipper considered funds registered for sale in the United State with at least 36 months of performance as of the end of the calendar year of the respective evaluation year. Fund groups with at least five equity, five bond, or three mixed-asset portfolios were eligible for an overall group award. The award is given to the group with the lowest average decile ranking of three years’ Consistent Return measure of the eligible funds over the three-year period ended Nov. 30, 2012. TIAA-CREF was ranked among 36 fund companies.

ii Morningstar ratings include Retail, Retirement, Premier and Institutional fund share classes that have completed one calendar year of performance; CREF Variable Annuity Accounts; and the Life Funds. Please note Morningstar rates CREF group variable annuities within the open-end mutual fund universe. Current rankings may be higher or lower on a monthly basis. Morningstar is an independent service that rates mutual funds and variable annuities. The top 10% of accounts in an investment category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, and the next 35% receive three stars. Morningstar proprietary ratings reflect historical risk-adjusted performance and can change every month. They are calculated from the account’s three-, five- and ten-year average annual returns in excess of 90-day Treasury bill returns with appropriate fee adjustments, and a risk factor that reflects subaccount performance below 90-day T-bill returns. The overall star ratings are Morningstar’s published ratings, which are weighted averages of its three-, five- and ten-year ratings for periods ended December 31, 2013. Past performance cannot guarantee future results. For current performance and rankings, please visit https://www.tiaa.org/public/investment-performance.

iii The rankings are quantitative, and are based on performance according to Lipper data. Each fund family is given an asset-weighted score within the five asset classes: U.S. Equity, World Equity, Mixed Asset, Taxable Bond and Tax-Exempt Bond, and the asset class score is then weighted by its size within the Lipper universe. In the five-year overall ranking, TIAA-CREF is ranked 29th out of 53 mutual fund families. TIAA-CREF does not qualify for the 10-year ranking. The rankings were published in the Feb.11, 2013 print edition of Barron’s.

Investment, insurance and annuity products are not FDIC insured, are not bank guaranteed, are not deposits, are not insured by any federal government agency, are not a condition to any banking service or activity, and may lose value.

‡Deposit and lending products and services are provided by TIAA Bank®. TIAA Bank is a division of TIAA, FSB, an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. TIAA, FSB NMLS ID: 399805.

The TIAA group of companies does not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult your legal or tax advisor.

TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., and Nuveen Securities, LLC, Members FINRA and SIPC , distribute securities products. Annuity contracts and certificates are issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), New York, NY. Each of the foregoing is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations.

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America is domiciled in New York, NY, with its principal place of business in New York, NY. Its California Certificate of Authority number is 3092.

TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company is domiciled in New York, NY, with its principal place of business in New York, NY. Its California Certificate of Authority number is 6992.